


Day 192

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [192]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25204600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [192]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 192

Brennan was on her way to the Alienage when one of the newer guard recruits flagged her down. If he was a day over eighteen, Brennan would eat her belt. The boy led her through Lowtown to a burned out building. This one, like most buildings in Kirkwall, was made mostly of stone so it was still intact, but the flame scarring was very noticeable, as was the trail of blood that led away for about a block.

“Where does that lead?” Brennan asked, pointing to the blood. The recruit shrugged.

“It stops not far from here. Whoever it belongs to is long gone.”

Brennan turned back to the building. It was a moneylender, not an uncommon target for arson. Brennan was about to go inside to investigate further when she felt the eyes of the recruit on her.

“Was there something else, recruit?” she asked.

“We have a witness,” he said.

“The owners?” Brennan guessed, but the recruit shook his head.

“No. We don’t know where the owner or his family are.” The recruit pointed her over to an elderly woman who was sitting outside her door. Brennan found that she was one of the most talkative people she had ever met. She was also nosy, she had heard a noise in the night and spied on the moneylender outside her window.

“There were two elves,” the woman said. “They started the fire. I watched them both go in, then there was an explosion and they came running when the building caught fire. That was when I found a guard to rescue the family and their guard.” 

The recruit helpfully informed Brennan that he had dragged the guard out of the burning building and sent him to the Chantry for healing. Brennan asked the woman what the elves looked like. The description she gave of one was fairly closed to Noll. Brennan knew the elf had skills but she didn’t know why they would be burning moneylenders. Jansen had a reputation for being fair to his clients, more so than most anyway.

She went to their home in the Alienage where she found the elf nursing some pretty bad looking injuries. They were reluctant to speak about what happened but Brennan turned on her charm, meaning she threatened to arrest them for breaking, entering, and arson. She learned that Jansen was apparently going by Red J. now and setting himself up as a rival for some of the minor crime guilds in the city. He seemed to be in talks with the Antivan Crows and had an elite new elven bodyguard, possibly the crow.

Brennan didn’t know Jansen well but none of what Noll said fit with what she had heard. Although, if Brennan remembered correctly, Jansen had been rescued from a cult of blood mages a few months back. It was hard to keep track of all the maleficar cults in Kirkwall but if they were at all connected to the ones they had raided not too long ago, maybe they had managed to force a demon into Jansen.

If that was the case, the demon could have all kinds of nefarious plans for Kirkwall. Without a Viscount the city was in a vulnerable state. If they managed to kill Meredith or the Grand Cleric or Aveline, it would be chaos.

Brennan considered going to the Hanged Man to confront Jansen, but if he was an abomination, she would not stand a chance. So instead, she went to the Gallows to find a templar.


End file.
